How to delete nonempty directory?


 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Top Forums UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users How to delete nonempty directory?
# 1  
Old 05-01-2003
How to delete nonempty directory?

How to delete nonempty directory?
Thanks
# 2  
Old 05-01-2003
The directory has to be empty to use the rmdir command.. you can use rm yourdir/*; rmdir yourdir

Or you can use rm -r yourdir, but be careful. This is recursive, so all the files in yourdir will be deleted, then yourdir will be deleted, and if the directory yourdir was in is now empty, that will get deleted too. Read the rm man page for more info.

Last edited by oombera; 05-01-2003 at 02:32 AM..
These 2 Users Gave Thanks to oombera For This Post:
# 3  
Old 05-01-2003
I'd suggest using rm -r ./yourdir from one dir level higher just so you're sure that deleting the correct directory. rm -r isn't very forgiving.

If you don't want it to ask you for confirmations you can use rm -rf ./yourdir.
Login or Register to Ask a Question

Previous Thread | Next Thread

10 More Discussions You Might Find Interesting

1. Shell Programming and Scripting

Script needed to delete to the list of files in a directory based on last created & delete them

Hi My directory structure is as below. dir1, dir2, dir3 I have the list of files to be deleted in the below path as below. /staging/retain_for_2years/Cleanup/log $ ls -lrt total 0 drwxr-xr-x 2 nobody nobody 256 Mar 01 16:15 01-MAR-2015_SPDBS2 drwxr-xr-x 2 root ... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: prasadn
2 Replies

2. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Cannot Delete Directory

Hello, I am trying to delete a directory but cannot. Can anyone assist? See attached. Many thanks. (6 Replies)
Discussion started by: dixer
6 Replies

3. Shell Programming and Scripting

How to delete some of the files in the directory, if the directory size limits the specified size

To find the whole size of a particular directory i use "du -sk /dirname".. but after finding the direcory's size how do i make conditions like if the size of the dir is more than 1 GB i hav to delete some of the files inside the dir (0 Replies)
Discussion started by: shaal89
0 Replies

4. Programming

print all nonempty pipe

I am trying to write a shell script for Linux to print the names of all non empty pipes in the current directory? any help (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: nimesh
3 Replies

5. Solaris

Directory cannot delete

Dear All, I have problem at T5220 server, when I enter at my server as oracle user and make directory ex. directory test then I will delete directory test with command : rm -rf, what happenned...?? that directory cannot deleted. What's wrong with my server...? Note: my server T5220 with... (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: mbah_jiman
3 Replies

6. Shell Programming and Scripting

use awk to replace empty fields with the latest nonempty field

Hi suppose I have a csv file like this count,1977,1978,1979 usa, , , blue japan, red, yellow,green india, , yellow,blue china, blue, yellow, green I want the output to be(replace everything, including empty data, with the most recent data): ... (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: grossgermany
1 Replies

7. Shell Programming and Scripting

count number of nonempty columns in row

Hi, Suppose i have a inputfile in csv format. How to use awk to count 'the number of nonempty columns in each row' minus one, and add the value as a new column in the end For cosmetic reason, it's even better to include a descriptive label for the last column in the first row. for... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: grossgermany
2 Replies

8. Solaris

Can't delete directory

Hi, I have a problem on Solaris 10 regarding deletion of files when I try to recursively delete the directory /opt/Tivoli as root, I get the following error message: rm: Unable to remove directory Tivoli/lcf/dat/1/no-del/bin/solaris2/TME: File exists rm: Unable to remove directory... (4 Replies)
Discussion started by: funksen
4 Replies

9. HP-UX

Can't delete a directory on HP-UX

Hi, I am having hard time to delete a directory: $ rm -r testoxdwdw rm: testoxdwdw non-existent $ rmdir testoxdwdw rmdir: testoxdwdw: No such file or directory $ rm -rf testoxdwdw Thanks! (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: oradbus
2 Replies

10. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

remove a nonempty directory

How can I remove a non empty directory. ' rmdir directory_name ' complains that the directory is not empty. The same problem happens with ' rmdir directory_name/* ' Thanks (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: babayeve
2 Replies
Login or Register to Ask a Question